The role of sedges in the process of forming phytocenosis

The paper presents the geobotanic studies of plant communities of Pre-Caucasian region. The aim is to clarify the species composition of phytocenosis and to determine the types of associations that include the species of the Carex L genus as codominants. In the course of the research the authors have defined and described 18 associations of natural lakes, rivers, estuaries, ponds, coasts of the Black and Azov Seas. The maximum number of sedges is registered on the territory of the relict lakes Kravtsovo, Vshivoe. Тhe authors recorded the appearance of such associations as Carex pseudocyperus + Sparganium erectum and others. The rarest types of associations are identified: Carex extensa + Bolboschoenus maritimus; Carex paniculata - Carex riparia + Butomus umbellatus; Carex lasiocarpa +Juncus inflexus + Alisma plantago-aquaticae etc. In the forest-steppe zone of Pre-Caucasian region the authors diagnosed 18 major associations: Carex stenophylla + Poa bulbosa + Artemisia lerchean; Carex humilis - vario-herbosum; Pinus sylvestris + Carex ericetorum etc. On the territory of Pre-Caucasian region the authors diagnosed 36 associations of Caricetum, earlier 16 associations with dominant Carex stenophylla and Carex humilis were diagnosed. In the described above associations the species (Carex ericetorum, C.lasiocarpa, Butomus umbellatus) listed in the Red Book of the Stavropolsky Kray are participating.